No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus 2

25 October 2020 AM – Titus 3:7-8 – Tit20 – Scott Childs
Introduction: Charles Weigle’s song, “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus,” was the product of one of the darkest periods of his life. Weigle spent most of his life as an itinerant evangelist and gospel songwriter. One day after returning home from an evangelistic crusade, he found a note left by his wife of many years. The note said she had had enough of an evangelist’s life. She was leaving him. Weigle later said that he became so despondent during the next several years that there were even times when he contemplated suicide. There was the terrible despair that no one really cared for him anymore. Gradually his spiritual faith was restored… Soon he felt compelled to write a song that would be a summary of his past tragic experience. From a heart that had been broken came these choice words that God gave to him: “I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true, I would tell you how He changed my life completely, He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus, There’s no other friend so kind as He, No one else could take the sin and darkness from me, Oh how much He cared for me.” Amazing Grace, 366 Hymn Stories by Kenneth Osbeck
Transition: As we look at the second half of this two-part sermon that I have entitled, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus”, we are examining six evidences, which reveal that no one ever cared for me like Jesus. Last week we examined the first three, He cared for me, He saved me, and He changed me. Now we will examine the last three.
The 4th evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
1.        He justified me (Tit 3:7)
a.         I am now justified
1)         In Romans 4:25 we read that Christ “… was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
2)         Unger, in his Bible Dictionary gives this definition to justification. [Read slowly and ponder each word.] “Justification is a divine act whereby an infinitely Holy God judicially declares a believing sinner to be righteous and acceptable before Him because Christ has borne the sinner’s sin on the cross and has become ‘to us … righteousness.’”
3)         To be justified is to have God declare you righteous or totally right in His sight.
4)         Justification is the full extent of God’s forgiveness. (Romans 5:1) “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
5)         (Charles Ryrie) “The sinner who believes in Christ receives God’s gift of righteousness (Ro 5:17), which then enables God to pronounce him righteous.”
6)         (Warren Wiersbe) “God puts to our account the righteousness of His Son, so that we can be condemned no more. Not only does He forgive our sins, but He forgets that we were even sinners!”
7)         (Bob Utley) “Believers are forgiven and accepted because of who He [Christ] is and what He has done, not because of who they are or what they have done!”
8)         A simplified definition of justification is that God makes us just as if we had never sinned.
b.         By His grace
1)         We also see that God justified me by His grace.
2)         He did not justify me because I deserved it or because I earned it. God’s justification is unmerited. (Romans 3:24) “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
3)         God in His great love for me, paid the full price of every one of my sins, suffered the full extent of my eternal judgment, so that He might graciously justify me when I placed my faith in Him to save me.
4)         The hymn writer rightly penned, “Wonderful grace of Jesus, Reaching to all the lost, By it I have been pardoned, Saved to the uttermost; Chains have been torn asunder, Giving me liberty; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful grace of Jesus, Reaching the most defiled, By its transforming power, Making him God’s dear child, Purchasing peace and heaven For all eternity— And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.” Great Hymns 206
5)         Praise God, by grace He justified me!
The 5th evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
2.        He adopted me (Tit 3:7)
a.         I became an heir of God
1)         Not only did God pull this wretched sinner from the miry clay and set him free, He also made me His child and heir. (John 1:12) “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
2)         This is a result of justification. Note the word “that” in verse seven. It states, in order that having been justified, we might be made heirs. (Romans 8:16-17) “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
3)         By God’s amazing grace, He justified me. Not only did Christ rescue me from hell and make me acceptable in God’s sight. He then adopted me as His child. I had been a child of the devil. Now I am God’s child.
4)         “I’m a child of the King, A child of the King! With Jesus, my Saviour, I’m a child of the King!” Great Hymns 279 My friend, if you truly know Christ as your Saviour, you too are a child of King Jesus.
b.         He made me an heir according to the hope of eternal life
1)         I am an heir of God and so are you if Christ has saved you. We just read in Romans 8:16-17 that we are joint-heirs with Christ. We will share with Christ all that belongs to Him. That is amazing!
2)         With our eternal life God has promised us a priceless inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3-5) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
3)         I know God cares for me; He justified me and adopted me.
The 6th evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
3.        He empowered me (Tit 3:8)
a.         He enabled me to serve Him
1)         We must claim and hold tightly all this doctrine about our salvation. It is not just for information; it is for application.
2)         Christ saved us to serve. (Ephesians 2:10) “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
b.         He empowered me to do good works
1)         Note the words in the middle of this verse, “that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” This is the purpose of Bible doctrine. This is what God’s has empowered His children to do.
2)         If you are a true Christian, God wants you to be doing things that are pleasing in His sight and that will attract others to God’s salvation. There is a negative and a positive to maintaining good works.
a)         Negatively, we must NOT do things that displease Him. Sadly, many Christians live like unbelievers. They listen to the same godless music, watch the same filthy TV programs, wear the same immodest clothing, use the same corrupt language, wear the same pagan hairstyles, and attend the same ungodly venues. Doing good is separating from evil.
b)         Positively, we must desire to please God rather than to please our peers and our flesh. We must not be ashamed of Christ. We must let our light shine for Him. We must live so that others will see Christ in us. Doing good is living for God’s glory.
3)         Doing good requires careful attention.
Conclusion: No one ever cared for me like Jesus! That is true for you as well. If you have received Him, He has justified you, made you His child, given you an inheritance and now desires that you live for His glory. Are you careful to maintain good works? If you have become careless, make the needed changes today.
            If you have not yet received Christ, I urge you to do so today.
Song: Amazing Grace – 236